MacNeil, Angus J.2017-06-222017-06-22May 20152015-05May 2015http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1808Early childhood education is an important component within the field of education because it is a significant and vital building block for the academic foundation of students. In recent years, research has documented the extensive success and growth of early childhood education for low-socioeconomic, minority, and English language learner students (Henry, Gordon, & Rickman, 2006). As a result of these successes, early childhood centers have been created in the United States primarily for specific communities which require such services. This study focused on determining whether significant differences existed in the academic achievement of prekindergarten students in independent early childhood centers and traditional school-based early childhood programs as measured by the Frog Street literacy and math assessments. Data in this study were from the years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 for bilingual and monolingual prekindergarten students who attended traditional comprehensive elementary schools and those who attended independent early childhood centers (ECC). Monolingual prekindergarten students in independent early childhood centers were compared against monolingual prekindergarten students in traditional comprehensive school settings in the areas of literacy and math. Bilingual prekindergarten students in independent early childhood centers were compared against bilingual prekindergarten students in traditional comprehensive school settings in the areas of literacy and math. Additionally, a cross comparison was made between bilingual prekindergarten students in early childhood centers and monolingual prekindergarten students in traditional comprehensive school settings in the area of math. Finally, monolingual prekindergarten students in early childhood centers were compared against bilingual prekindergarten students in early childhood centers in the area of math. Results revealed that no statistically significant differences existed in regards to the academic achievement of bilingual and monolingual prekindergarten students in either of the academic settings as measured by the Frog Street literacy and math assessments. The study further revealed that the independent variable (the early childhood center or the traditional school) did not have an impact on the dependent variable (the literacy and math academic achievement of the prekindergarten students).application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).Early childhood educationStudent ProgressInstructional settingsEarly childhood centersTraditional elementary2017-06-22Thesisborn digital